The Hobbit had a lot of humor thrown in with the serious scenes, especially early on in the book.

Remember, we're not dealing with the Dark Lord Sauron covering Middle-Earth in darkness. We're dealing with a group of 13 dwarves, a reluctant hobbit, and a pushy wizard on an adventure to kill a dragon and take treasure out of a mountain.

Seriousness level - 50. The Grey Pilgrim, they once called me. Three hundred lives of men I walked this earth, and now I have no time...